Many of the Shadow moves are dark, corrupted counterparts of a move that the Shadow Pokémon would normally learn, such as Shadow Lugia's Shadow Blast, which, like the move Aeroblast, sends a high-powered stream of air at the foe, and can only be learned by Lugia. These moves often have lower power than their non-Shadow counterparts, but still inflict more damage due to being super effective. Their usefulness is also increased by their lack of PP, as they can be used as often as needed within a single battle.

Mechanics

Damage-dealing Shadow moves can be either physical or special, despite damage categories being otherwise solely dependent on type at the time. This distinction appears to be based on the types of the moves they are most similar to; for example, Shadow Blast is a physical move because its counterpart is a Flying-type move, which are all physical in Generation III. Other moves would not be categorized separately from type until Generation IV.